[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 13844-13847]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                IDAHOANS SPEAK OUT ON HIGH ENERGY PRICES

  Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, earlier this week, I asked Idahoans to 
share with me how high energy prices are affecting their lives, and 
they responded by the hundreds. The stories, numbering over 1,000, are 
heartbreaking and touching. To respect their efforts, I am submitting 
every e-mail sent to me through energy_prices@crapo .senate.gov to the 
Congressional Record. This is not an issue that will be easily 
resolved, but it is one that deserves immediate and serious attention, 
and Idahoans deserve to be heard. Their stories not only detail their 
struggles to meet everyday expenses, but also have suggestions and 
recommendations as to what Congress can do now to tackle this problem 
and find solutions that last beyond today. I ask unanimous consent to 
have today's letters printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

       Senator Crapo, Thank you for the opportunity to tell my 
     story. I am nearly 70 years old and for 40 to 50 years have 
     dreamed of a vacation in Jasper National Park in Canada. This 
     year was to be the year to go. I had a new vehicle, a 
     competent driver to share the driving, and I had the money. 
     Well, I had the money until the price of gas began to rise so 
     sharply. I had to cancel this dream trip. I may never get to 
     Jasper.
       My sister and I made weekly trips to Boise for religious 
     purposes. Because of the cost of gas, we had to cut that back 
     to twice a month.
       I have a little patch of strawberries that produces more 
     than I can use. I have shared with friends, family and 
     neighbors nearby. There are many who I would love to share 
     with (and they would love to have them), but they live too 
     far to make it worth the trip with the high cost of gas.
       My sister and I are on a limited budget (Social Security), 
     and the cost of gas has caused the prices of food and other 
     things we have to buy to skyrocket. We live at least 20 miles 
     from town, one way. It costs over three times for gas to go 
     to town than it used to. There are no buses in our area.
       My personal opinion is that the environmentalists should 
     either donate their money to pay for foreign fuel or let us 
     produce that which we have in our own country. I think they 
     are being very selfish, and I wish a bunch of those 
     characters had to live on less than $1,000 per month.
           Sincerely,
     Delores, Melba.
                                  ____

       With the gas prices the way they are, my family has to stay 
     home instead of camping, fishing and other family activities 
     we have done in the past. The grocery stores have had to 
     raise the prices because of the price of fuel. My wife 
     travels 55 miles a day for work in a car that is on its last 
     leg. I cannot replace it because of the money that we are 
     spending in fuel. I never worried about ``filling my tank'' 
     before, but now I cannot fill my tank because of the price of 
     fuel. I feel like my government wants the fuel to keep going 
     up and up. Everybody says that the oil companies are making a 
     fortune, but they make 4 cents a gallon and taxes are 50 
     cents a gallon. So who is making the money, the oil companies 
     or the government? Please help us by lowering the fuel prices 
     even if we have to rely on the oil in the United States and 
     not buy from the Middle East.
     Jason, Pocatello.
                                  ____

       Dear Senator, I am concerned about your ignorance on why 
     prices not only at the pump but on anything we buy are up. 
     The Federal Reserve is most responsible for this inflation. 
     It is taught in economics 101. The Federal Reserve has 
     inflated our dollar 50 percent in the last 7 years, according 
     to their statistics. That means 7 years ago, if you had 
     $100,000 in the bank, it would only buy half as much today 
     ``say $50,000''. This means if you made $10.00 an hour seven 
     years ago and your wages stayed the same, you only have the 
     buying power of $5.00/hour.
       The Federal Reserve inflates our money supply. They will 
     not give the M3 numbers out because there's a conscious 
     effort not to let the public know what they are doing. You 
     must kick the can, do your research on how inflation really 
     works before you even talk about making changes. If you are 
     to fix the problem, go to the Congress and ask them to fire 
     the Federal Reserve.
       Sure, energy prices are up, and these big companies are 
     making big profits. The big oil companies are only in the 
     right place at the right time. The Federal Reserve was voted 
     in wrongly Dec 24, 1913. This was when no one could vote 
     against the creation of the Federal Reserve. The Federal 
     Reserve is responsible for the Great Depression. They are 
     responsible now for our inflation. Please takes steps and ask 
     Congress to remove this private agency and go to gold 
     standard.
     Kevin, Rathdrum.
                                  ____

       Fortunately, I can live, work, and shop within a 2-mile 
     radius of home. However, we're reluctant to pull our RV down 
     the road, which causes a loss of business for those tourist 
     areas we would have visited.
       I believe the best way to reduce gas prices is to increase 
     production--drill off the coasts (like China and Cuba are 
     doing now), and in Alaska; extract oil from coal and shale; 
     and exploit other known resources. A massive effort to build 
     nuclear plants would also be wise. It is time to tell the 
     environmentalists where to ``get off''. The planet is not 
     getting warmer, and certainly not at the hands of man.
     Scott.
                                  ____

       Senator Crapo, Thank you for your time and ears. I am 
     married with three children at home (two girls, ages 15 and 
     16; and one boy, 10 years old). Ten years ago, my wife and I 
     were receiving government assistance; now

[[Page 13845]]

     we are both college graduates and working in professional 
     positions, yet we still feel the pain at the pump. I can only 
     imagine how hard it is affecting those who are still on 
     government assistance, or those less fortunate without a 
     higher education. I have personally bought relatives gas in 
     the last month, not because they asked but because I knew 
     they needed it.
       Our family has felt the crunch with rising fuel prices. 
     Fuel costs have taken away money from other pertinent bills 
     in our household, especially our energy/power bill. Our 
     family has scaled back traveling and fun family activities 
     such as going to Mariners baseball games. After all, baseball 
     is as American as apple pie. I know these aren't priorities 
     in most households, but activities like these are ones which 
     my family enjoys our time together. When you are raising 
     teenagers you really appreciate these times because teens are 
     hard to convince that family time is truly important. My wife 
     and I bought two small import vehicles (4-cylinders) because 
     we saw this fuel crisis coming. Maybe there could be 
     incentives for using energy-efficient vehicles, not 
     specifically imports but fuel-efficient vehicles. We have a 
     large SUV, but we only drive it when we travel or have to 
     transport the entire family.
       Please help contain the ever-rising fuel crisis. Families 
     are affected in more ways than we can imagine, especially the 
     poor.
           Sincerely,
     Richard, Lenore.
                                  ____

       You asked for my story here it is.
       As a retired person and gas prices so high, I do not go 
     anywhere. What bothers me more is the profit taking by oil 
     companies, record profit earning 300 percent and over. Now is 
     the time to own stock in oil. Is this not just greed, ripping 
     off of the American public? We have back-up supplies; we have 
     other sources of energy. We have a government that is not 
     doing its job of protecting the people from being taken 
     advantage of. Why are our government officials allowing this 
     to happen? OPEC does control a lot but are they not beholden 
     to us for some of our products? Can we not hold them over the 
     barrel--for some of the product we send them? OK, a head of 
     lettuce $4.00 each? What is happening with this country? All 
     I am seeing is greed.
       We have oil in Alaska; we have oil in Texas. Drill more 
     here; supply ourselves. Why are we shipping oil out? Why not 
     keep our oil here so that OPEC can't hold us up at the bank?
           Sincerely,
     Claudia, Nampa.
                                  ____

       Dear Senator Crapo, I am very pleased for the opportunity 
     to say something that will be heard. I bought a nice little 
     3-bedroom house in Caldwell, thinking the drive would be 
     long, but something I could handle because I have a car that 
     gets decent gas mileage. Well, with the high gas prices, I 
     have left my home in Caldwell and moved to Boise to be able 
     to keep my job and have something left to live on. Of course 
     with the housing market, it is not selling. I know a lot of 
     people like me who are sharing homes with others due to the 
     increase in gas, electricity, and food prices. Right now 
     living in Boise, it is still costing me 150.00 a month for 
     gas, and I live about 15 minutes from work. Living in 
     Caldwell it was three times the amount. That is one whole 
     paycheck for me. I learned to eat noodles and potatoes 
     instead of other things that would be better for me to eat. 
     Can you imagine the people who are living on that who do not 
     have a good job? I go to work, home and church. Now you may 
     think that is not much of a life. I used to go for drives and 
     visit friends, but that is not possible at this time due to 
     the high cost of everything. We in this country know how to 
     cut back and buckle down to do what needs to be done to help, 
     but our government has let things get way out of hand. We as 
     the voting public are supposed to have a say in things and 
     too many have sat back and said nothing. Something must be 
     done. We have far too long been dependent on others for our 
     fuel, when we have the resources right here in this great 
     country. I do not mean to sound negative, but there is 
     nothing left for us to give. It is time those who have been 
     elected begin giving back to those who support them!
       I pray someone is listening.
     Jeannie, Boise.
                                  ____

       The amount of fuel that I use is as minimal as I can get. I 
     do not do anything except drive back and forth to work and to 
     the grocery store on weekends. I do very little, if any, 
     extra driving. I would love to go camping or up in our 
     wonderful mountains to go fishing, but I cannot afford the 
     gas that it would take to do this. I have been trying to find 
     a way to purchase a different automobile that would get 
     better mileage, but if you do not have extra money, it is 
     real hard to try to save. I use one tank of gas a month to do 
     what I do and, at today's price, that costs me $120.00; soon 
     it will be $150.00; then who knows. I understand price 
     increases, but this is ridiculous. We need to have relief 
     now. I do not understand how one group of people can put all 
     of our own oil in such problems by not allowing us to drill 
     for our own gas and oil. This problem stems from green people 
     who have no idea how anyone else lives. We do not now nor 
     will we ever have mass transit that will remove our cars from 
     the highway.
       I feel that we need to drill and produce our own oil and 
     gas as much as we can; then we can tell all of these 
     countries that do not like us goodbye, and we can keep our 
     money here to help people in the U.S. that need help.
       Thank you very much for the space to vent. I am not sure it 
     will come of anything, but we can hope.
       God bless the USA.
     Rick.
                                  ____

       With fuel prices increasing so rapidly, we aren't 
     travelling as much or planning a vacation. We are making 
     cutbacks in many areas. However, I was recently visiting my 
     parents in Idaho Falls. They are retired and on a limited 
     income, so I have worried a bit about their finances with the 
     rising fuel prices that not only affect transportation but 
     everything. We stopped at a grocery store known to have the 
     lowest prices consistently. As I approached the check out I 
     saw a family and the mom's voice was starting to rise in 
     intensity and volume. She was under a lot of stress. Her 
     children were near and her husband was, too. She was adding 
     up the cost of the meager amount of groceries in their cart 
     and starting to put back basic items. The children and 
     husband looked at her. She said, ``I only have a half tank of 
     gas left. I only have a half tank of gas left,'' she 
     repeated. ``I just filled it up and I only have \1/2\ tank 
     left.'' She turned to her husband and asked him if he had 
     driven her car yesterday. He replied, ``No.'' Tears came to 
     my eyes as I realized what this young, small, responsible 
     family was going through. Tension was mounting, money was 
     very tight, without fuel, how would they get to work? With 
     fuel costing at least double what it recently was, how would 
     they have enough to stretch? I hadn't realized that people 
     were already having to make choices between fuel and food. 
     Many, many Idahoans are independent and hard-working. They do 
     not look for government hand-outs. They are resourceful. They 
     grow gardens, glean fields nearby, cook from scratch and 
     stretch their dollars in many ways. They make things work. 
     But there comes a point when dollars do not stretch farther, 
     salaries aren't increasing as rapidly as expenses, second 
     jobs are scarcer to find. I live in Boise, a city with more 
     transportation options. We are biking more; my husband has 
     the privilege of biking to work. This family did not! Rural 
     areas have few transportation options besides personal 
     vehicles, and the distance to almost anywhere is great.
       I believe as we use and develop our own resources in our 
     great country that people will rise to the occasion and find 
     solutions before we run out of fuel. When we encourage 
     personal initiative and do not take a dependency attitude we, 
     the people, can accomplish amazing things.
     Karla, Boise.
                                  ____

       We must start drilling for domestic oil, start making 
     nuclear power plants and oil refineries. I will not support 
     anyone who does not and will be willing to help support those 
     leaders who do.
     John.
                                  ____

       My story is not special, but I think it is too common. I am 
     a 55-year-old woman. I am my sole support. I live in Emmett, 
     but there are no jobs there. I work in Boise, a 30-mile drive 
     one way. I do not make a lot of money and, with the mortgage 
     industry the way it is, I cannot afford to move. Homes are 
     not selling in Emmett. I wonder how much higher things are 
     going to go. Soon it will be a choice of food or gas. Which 
     would you choose?
       I am disgusted with our government. They do nothing, and I 
     know they do not have to suffer the way we do. I feel our 
     government has forgotten they work for us, not that we are 
     supporting them.
     Candace, Emmett.
                                  ____

       Dear Senator Crapo, I am lucky enough to live within three 
     miles of where I work, so transporting myself has not 
     impacted me as much as most in my community. Where I am hit 
     hard, though, is the cost of the organic and healthy food I 
     buy. Since spending a lot of time trying to get myself 
     healthy and researching about pesticides and about 
     environmental toxins, I had to make the decision to vote with 
     my dollars. I have spent a much higher percentage on the 
     important organics such as tomatoes, berries, greens, and 
     some other staples that are most chemical-laden in the 
     conventional counterpart. And I am happy to do so to help a 
     growing sector of sustainable farmers. I always felt that, in 
     the long run, this would come back to benefit all as our 
     country turned to more sustainable and nutritious 
     agriculture.
       After studying some of the recent documentaries about our 
     food supply, and the big corporate welfare, and how the farm 
     bill works, I realized that, for some reason, our system 
     prefers us eating the 2,000 mile irradiated, grown for shelf 
     life, nutrient void produce. Organic and sustainable farming 
     hasn't really been given the chance in the past, but I do 
     have hope that because of rising fuel costs that maybe our 
     officials will

[[Page 13846]]

     wake up and support locally grown and sold agriculture (at 
     the expense of big agri and big oil). It will be cheaper with 
     less transportation costs, but to get off the ground we need 
     some government intervention that gives incentives for 
     farmers to take the risk. We subsidize all the corn out there 
     to make us obese with its crack of sweeteners and processed 
     puffed foods and to feed more farm animals than we really 
     have business eating, ($79 hamburgers???); why do we not give 
     nutrition a fair shake. Why do we not try to learn some of 
     Europe's successes and shape a healthy community-based food 
     system? So what I can do is look at my plate as half full on 
     this issue; that is how high fuel costs can benefit me most.
       Thank you,
     Ryan.
                                  ____

       The high energy prices are affecting our family negatively. 
     Higher grocery prices. Gas prices were 1.46 when Bush took 
     office. Unfortunately, Senator Crapo's vote to support the 
     war in Iraq is one reason that gas prices are so high.
     Brian.
                                  ____

       I live in Jerome, Idaho, a rural community. We live between 
     Twin Falls and Jerome, my wife works in Twin Falls and I work 
     in Jerome. Since our area is rural and there is not any form 
     of mass transit like in larger cities the high gas prices are 
     killing us. My wife works for Twin Falls school district and 
     they got a 2 percent raise this year and I got a 3 percent 
     raise. The gas prices have taken all of our raises plus much 
     more. We do not take any long drives other than to work. Life 
     has changed in a big way and not to the positive side. The 
     following is an email I received and I did check it out on 
     the internet. Why are we not tapping into this oil field?
       1. Ever heard of the Bakken Formation? Google it. I did, 
     and again, blew my mind. The U.S. Geological Service issued a 
     report in April ('08) that only scientists and oilmen/women 
     knew was coming, but man was it big. It was a revised report 
     (hadn't been updated since '95) on how much oil was in this 
     area of the western 2/3 of North Dakota; western South 
     Dakota; and extreme eastern Montana . . . check this out:
       ``The Bakken is the largest domestic oil discovery since 
     Alaska's Prudhoe Bay, and has the potential to eliminate all 
     American dependence on foreign oil. The Energy Information 
     Administration (EIA) estimates it at 503 billion barrels. 
     Even if just 10% of the oil is recoverable . . . at $107 a 
     barrel, we're looking at a resource base worth more than $5.3 
     trillion.
       `` `When I first briefed legislators on this, you could 
     practically see their jaws hit the floor. They had no idea,' 
     '' says Terry Johnson, the Montana Legislature's financial 
     analyst.
       `` `This sizable find is now the highest-producing onshore 
     oil field found in the past 56 years,' reports The Pittsburgh 
     Post Gazette. It is a formation known as the Williston Basin, 
     but is more commonly referred to as the `Bakken.' And it 
     stretches from Northern Montana, through North Dakota and 
     into Canada. For years, U.S. oil exploration has been 
     considered a dead end. Even the `Big Oil' companies gave up 
     searching for major oil wells decades ago. However, a recent 
     technological breakthrough has opened up the Bakken's massive 
     reserves . . . and we now have access of up to 500 billion 
     barrels. And because this is light, sweet oil, those billions 
     of barrels will cost Americans just $16 per barrel!
       ``That is enough crude to fully fuel the American economy 
     for 41 years straight.''
       2. [And if that didn't throw you on the floor, then this 
     next one should--because it is from two years ago, people!]
       ``U.S. Oil Discovery--Largest Reserve in the World! 
     Stansberry Report Online--4/20/2006 Hidden 1,000 feet beneath 
     the surface of the Rocky Mountains lies the largest untapped 
     oil reserve in the world is more than 2 trillion barrels. On 
     August 8, 2005 President Bush mandated its extraction.
       ``They reported this stunning news: We have more oil inside 
     our borders, than all the other proven reserves on earth. 
     Here are the official estimates: 8 times as much oil as Saudi 
     Arabia; 18 times as much oil as Iraq; 21 times as much oil as 
     Kuwait; 22 times as much oil as Iran; 500 times as much oil 
     as Yemen--and it is all right here in the Western United 
     States.''
       [How can this be!? How can we not be extracting this!? 
     Because we've not demanded legislation to come out of 
     Washington allowing its extraction; that is why!]
       ``James Bartis, lead researcher with the study says we've 
     got more oil in this very compact area than the entire Middle 
     East--more than 2 trillion barrels. Untapped. That is more 
     than all the proven oil reserves of crude oil in the world 
     today, reports The Denver Post.
       ``Do not think `Big Oil' will drop its price--even with 
     this find? Think again! It is all about the competitive 
     marketplace, and if they can extract it (here) for less, they 
     can afford to sell it for less--and if they do not, others 
     will. It will come down--it has to.'' [Got your attention/ire 
     up yet? Hope so! Now, while you're thinking about it . . . 
     and hopefully P.O'd, do this:
     Pat.
                                  ____

       Senator Crapo, New drilling of oil reserves will not even 
     reduce the price of gas. All drilling more wells will do is 
     put more money into the hands of the big oil companies. 
     Nuclear costs far too much when accounting for the storage of 
     the waste it generates. It is time for a new approach!
       We need incentives for mass transit and electric vehicles. 
     Idaho, in particular has an abundance of renewable energy 
     potential, just waiting to be exploited. Solar and wind 
     development needs to be a priority. It is time to fill our 
     gas tanks from the sun!
       Why not take this opportunity to address carbon dioxide 
     generation from vehicles and gas prices at the same time?
       My family has been affected by high energy prices just like 
     everyone else, but the solution is not poking our heads in 
     the sand.
           Sincerely,
     Chris, Boise.
                                  ____

       1. Get all your fellow Senators to emphasize conservation 
     and to practice what they preach. The `historic' comment by 
     Vice President Dick Cheney that conservation is a `personal 
     virtue' came across as an inference that conservation is a 
     wimpy attitude and real cowboys do not do that.
       2. Show me that the federal bureaucracy really can reduce 
     the waste of our energy and natural resources. Start with 
     your office and your staff. Hypocrisy is so yesterday!
       3. Quit the whining that we must drill in the ANWR. The so-
     called Naval Reserves established in the 1920s are now being 
     ``developed'' for oil and gas exploitation; an area the size 
     of the State of Indiana.
       4. Show us that oil and gas drilling can be done properly. 
     The massive operations in Wyoming are creating a gawd-awful 
     mess.
       5. Encourage our nation's truck carriers to pay their 
     drivers by the hour and not by the mile. Then, the drivers 
     will have a decent incentive to drive at the speed limit and 
     conserve fuel.
       6. Then, if you dare, encourage the USPS to eliminate 
     Saturday deliveries, and keep those 200,000 residential-
     delivery jitneys off the road. (Besides, all they do is save 
     up the junk mail for Saturday delivery. When is the last time 
     you received anything important via US mail on a Saturday?)
       Thanks for listening,
     D.
                                  ____

       Senator Crapo, Rather than solicit stories for the purpose 
     of political grandstanding, how about you take a moment to 
     understand the real reason why energy prices are where they 
     are.
       High energy (and food) costs can be laid squarely at the 
     feet of the U.S. Congress and President, including you. This 
     is because of what has been done to the U.S. dollar during 
     the Bush/Republican years. Deficit spending and a disastrous 
     war in Iraq have frittered away a budget surplus and progress 
     toward reducing our national debt. Rather than act as the 
     party of fiscal responsibility, the Republican Party has 
     frittered our national financial health away.
       Over the last few years, it was plainly obvious what was 
     being done to the dollar from a spendthrift Congress and 
     markets acted accordingly. And, if you believe that your 
     currency is going to become worthless, the only way to 
     preserve your net worth is to own tangible things, 
     particularly commodities. This is what has spurred this 
     massive commodity boom--lack of faith in the dollar. I have 
     been invested in a basket of commodities for over four years 
     now, one of the best investments I have ever made. My 
     decision was based heavily on the irresponsible Congress.
       If you have any doubts about this relationship, look no 
     further than those bad unemployment numbers from June 6th. 
     Intuitively, you'd think that lots of unemployed people would 
     cause oil prices to drop on weaker demand. Yet oil had its 
     biggest one day rise in history, starting the minute those 
     unemployment numbers came out. Why? Because bad unemployment 
     numbers puts pressure on the Federal Reserve to hold rates 
     steady or lower them at a time when the Fed wants to raise 
     them before inflation gets any further out of control. This 
     is bad for the dollar; the dollar dropped as well that day.
       Let me give you a quick example of the effect the weak 
     dollar has had on gas prices. Let's say the dollar magically 
     went back to par with the Euro, where it used to be not so 
     very long ago. Gasoline would be around $2.70 per gallon! A 
     strong dollar would also pop this balloon of commodity 
     speculation we are seeing and drive down prices even further.
       So if you truly want to fix high gasoline prices, it is 
     time to face up to the giant elephant in the room that is the 
     irresponsible fiscal policy of the U.S. Congress and stop 
     this huffing and puffing about drilling on the continental 
     shelf and ANWR. Even a hint of real fiscal responsibility 
     would go a long way toward strengthening the dollar. We 
     cannot drill our way out of this problem, as much as the oil 
     companies would like to have you believe that. Because of the 
     very same weak dollar, U.S. oil reserves are extremely 
     profitable at this time, so it is no surprise they are 
     pushing hard for expanded drilling. I can't imagine a better 
     scenario for them--an outraged public and production costs 
     that keep dropping as the dollar weakens.

[[Page 13847]]

       Of course we need to conserve and develop alternative forms 
     of energy, but to ignore the role of the dollar in all this 
     will just mean we continue down this road to disaster we've 
     been on the last few years.
       This might not be the story of suffering you're looking for 
     (actually just the opposite in my case). But I think it might 
     be more constructive than an inbox full of moaning and 
     groaning about how much it costs to commute to work from 
     Nampa.
           Regards,
     Stan, Boise.

                          ____________________